Twins Minor League Report (8/20): A Good Day for Prospect Bats

Add Severino to the long list of AAA bats with which we can be infatuated.

Serious question…how does he grade out defensively? Is he a legitimate second or third baseman…or is he yet another DH at the major league level?

2 hours ago, jkcarew said:

Serious question…how does he grade out defensively? Is he a legitimate second or third baseman…or is he yet another DH at the major league level?

I think he is very Miranda-like on defense - so not that good. But someone more knowledgeable may be able to comment further.

3 hours ago, jkcarew said:

Add Severino to the long list of AAA bats with which we can be infatuated.

Serious question…how does he grade out defensively? Is he a legitimate second or third baseman…or is he yet another DH at the major league level?

He isn't great, but he isn't a butcher. I'd say Miranda-like is fair. Interesting he's played quite a bit at 1B for the Saints. They won't push him into that role this year, but creates a nice option for 2024.

Larnach is having trouble getting the barrel on the ball. He seems to be taking good at-bats but doesn't connect with pitches he should be able to drive.

10 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

He can field enough to get on the field with an .900 OPS.  He's not great.

I've watched him quite a few times live in Wichita, playing either 2nd or 3rd with Lee at short.  He makes the plays on the balls hit to him but not much more.  He's a bit better than Julien in my estimation and might actually be decent at 1st.  Long term he's a trade guy, don't get too attached.  The better he hits at AAA the better for the org.

IDK.  He certainly is a good trade chip but I also see him as a great bench player.  He can play 1B/2B/3B/DH and he is a switch hitter with power.  That provides a lot of options.  I think what could keep him here is our lack of depth at 1B.  My guess is it's an even money bet that they hold on to Severino.

What does Funderburk have to do to get the call? Would be nice to have another reliable LH for the stretch 

I've mentioned this previously, but what's it going to take for Yoyner Fajardo to get a little prospect love? He seems to always be on base in these reports and I believe his average is at, or higher than 0.300. It seems like he could be a decent piece at some point. 

31 minutes ago, Dman said:

They must not want to remove any of the young arms off the 40 man and with the trade deadline having passed they cannot trade anyone to make room. 

Alcala could move to the 60 day IL. I think they're concerned because Paddack and Gordon might come off the 60 day IL soon but I'll bet someone else gets injured before the season ends.

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No more, please, about Dobnak being possibly able to help out this year.

Or ever.

21 minutes ago, Omgbenji said:

I've mentioned this previously, but what's it going to take for Yoyner Fajardo to get a little prospect love? He seems to always be on base in these reports and I believe his average is at, or higher than 0.300. It seems like he could be a decent piece at some point. 

He's an "org" guy. Not young for AA. The Pirates didn't protect him last year and he signed with the Twins as a minor league free agent. He'll be a minor league free agent again when the season is over.

24 minutes ago, Omgbenji said:

I've mentioned this previously, but what's it going to take for Yoyner Fajardo to get a little prospect love? He seems to always be on base in these reports and I believe his average is at, or higher than 0.300. It seems like he could be a decent piece at some point. 

Fajardo is behind a number of guys - Martin and Stevenson to name two. Stevenson does what Fajardo does but at AAA and with power while playing CF.

Yoyner, org guy, 24 at AA, Pirates (Pirates!) didn't want him after a .700 ops last year as an older OF.  Wichita and St. Paul can fool you, as they're both hitter's parks (esp SP), and he's an OF at Wichita, old for a real prospect, avg age for the league, and he's an .800 guy.  Because he's OF, I doubt he's ever more than an org guy, but he might get a chance elsewhere if some team ignores the park and just needs AAA depth.  Twins might just need AAA depth.

Severino, switch hitter, is much better at AA/AAA than he ever was in the lower minors, at least partially if not mostly due to the ballparks (see Miranda).  He can't field, hits righties better this year, at least, and strikes out way to much to be an MLB threat.  I'm still not sure why for the last two seasons I've excused Wallner's k rate when I deem it so important, but there's something different with Wallner I can't quite place, and I doubt the likes of Severino and Larnach and most all others who strike out way too much in the minors will ever be anything in MLB.

Appreciate the above comments, especially those about Severino's defense.  As we see his power numbers increase at St. Paul, was asking myself the last few days...Has he surpassd Miranda as the next best option at third base on the Twins depth chart?  Kid seems to have legit power and striking out around 30% of his plate appearances isn't all that bad.  Twins got lucky when Atlanta decided to bend the rules and got this kid for a huge bonus.  Maybe it will work out.

Just excited as all get out every time I see Bechtold with another clean outing.  Will we see him in a Twins uniform come 2024?  Sure would be interesting having your third catcher sitting out in the bullpen.  Also interesting that Noah Miller's August numbers are better than the earlier months, much better.

Anybody know what happened to Schulfer? Was at the game, and after a couple rough pitches to a batter they called the trainer out, he was pulled mid at-bat, but didn't see any info about why. (Boyle did a great job cleaning up)

Can't find any news about it today, either.

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Why not? He literally can't be worse than Gallo has been. he has to be protected this year.....why not?

Ironically, he has some Gallo in him. K’ing over 30% at AA and the Saints this year. But, yes…Joey is at 40%, and Severino is young enough that you’d think he could improve on it.

22 hours ago, Dman said:

They must not want to remove any of the young arms off the 40 man and with the trade deadline having passed they cannot trade anyone to make room.  I assume it takes another long term injury for him to be added. He might be better than Moran and Sands and Winder but until he gets his chance we just won't know.

Sands, Moran and Ortega all have good AAA numbers just like Kody so hard to know how well his stuff will translate but on the flip side he has been as good they have been and he is the only one who hasn't gotten a chance at the MLB level.

I don't think it's a reluctance to remove someone off the 40 man for Funderburk.  It's that they are going to need 40-man space when they reinstate Buxton / Ryan and Kirilloff.  Hopefully, Paddack and Stewart as well.  Alcala?  That's going to be a challenge, so they don't need to make it worse by adding Funderburk.  Plus, I would assume they are looking at managing this to set-up for the playoff's.  Ryan and perhaps Kuechel end up in the BP and best case scenario Paddack and Stewart are back.  

With a little luck where health is concerned, we are going to have a very deep pitching staff for the playoffs.

On 8/21/2023 at 11:00 AM, Minderbinder said:

No more, please, about Dobnak being possibly able to help out this year.

Sad to see, but looks like a true assessment.